So You Think You Can Dance 2012 kicks off its ninth season this Thursday, the night after the American Idol 2012 finale.

The two-hour season premiere is on a special night this week and will feature audition rounds. Next week SYTYCD will fall into its regular time slot on Wednesdays. Be sure to check out the promo for the premiere after the jump.

And just a reminder that this season the results shows will be combined with the performance shows. So that’s only one episode a week. And as we announced over the weekend, Nigel Lythgoe said that this season there will be a male and a female winner crowned instead of the usual solo champ.

So you Think You Can Dance 2012 will have two champions in its ninth season.

Yes, you read that correctly. SYTYCD Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe announced that this season there will be a male and a female winner crowned instead of the usual solo champ.

“We are down to one two-hour show each week,” Lytgoe told E! News. We are changing it up. We are going to have two winners this year, one male and one female. It’s something that we wonder why we didn’t do it in the first place. We should have done it years ago!”

That makes perfect sense to me, actually.

“Each one brings something different to the table,” Lythgoe added. “We can split up the numbers and have America vote for their favorite guy and girl, so why not do it?”

I’m starting to wonder if we might expect this to happen with Lytgoe’s other show American Idol. Hmm. THere’s an interesting thought.

So You Think You Can Dance 2012 premieres next Thursday, May 24, 2012, the night after the American Idol 2012 season finale! The two-hour SYTYCD 2012 kick off of the 9th season starts off with the auditions of course, but what what everyone is really waiting for is to see how the new one-night-a-week format will work during voting and elimination time.

Host Cat Deely promises that it’s going to be even more exciting than before and that there will still be plenty of guest judges and drama.

“It’s going to add new layer of drama and jeopardy,” Cat says of the change. “It’s going to be action-packed, super dramatic and super fun!”

Former So You Think You Can Dance choregrapher Alex Da Silva has been senteced to 10 years in prison for raping a woman and assualting another, according to multiple reports.

DaSilva, 43 was convicted of raping a 22-year-old woman in 2002 and attacking another in 2009. The second case was an assault charge with the intent to rape. Four other counts were dismissed after the jury came to a deadlock.

The dance instructor worked on SYTYCD during the first four seasons. None of the charges were related to anyone from the Fox show.

Deeley shared that a former SYTYCD guest judge will return this season but as an auditioner. “He’s my best friend since doing the show,” Deeley said. “He makes me laugh so much. I’m so excited to have him back!” Apparently this mystery guest just wanted to see what the audition process was like, so they’re allowing him to audition just for the fun of it.

One of the biggest questions this season has been about how the show will reformat the show now that the results show has been cancelled. Deeley hinted at what’s in store with that whole situation. “We’re going to amalgamate the results show into the main show, which I think will add another layer of jeopardy,” she said. “We want to keep it punchy and keep that level of jeopardy and drama.”

The show’s co-executive producer Jeff Thacker elaborated. “The pressure’s going to be on for double the amount of time,” Thacker said. “They’re going to have to wait a week to find out who America put into the bottom 3, [and then] they have a second chance to redeem themselves.”